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IPCC Synthesis Report Launch - A harrowing account of what is to come

By: Jess Morgan

The IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) fifth
assessment report is drawing to a close and with it concern is mounting for small
scale agriculture and the family farming communities who depend on it.

The forthcoming synthesis report is expected to put a strong emphasis on the people most affected by
climate change such as smallholder farmers who toil on marginal or rain fed
lands. The WGs have previously addressed the position of such people:

“The IPCC report
shows climate change as a reality that’s
not going to go away for poor small farmers in developing countries; they are
often the hardest hit with the least capacity to adapt,” says Elwyn Grainger
Jones, Director of Environment and Climate Change at the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The 5th assessment report comprises 3 working group reports (WGs) which were
launched in 2013-14. These previous instalments have highlighted the struggles of 2 billion rural
people to cope with a more variable climate and more frequent disasters . The
synthesis report (SYR), aims to
integrate and synthesise all data within the WGs to form a comprehensive view
of the causes, predictions, and potential
crises of climate change.

Jones went on to say that “As small farmers in developing countries are among the most affected by
climate change the time to adapt cannot be delayed. IFAD’s new Adaptation for
Smallholder Agriculture Program (ASAP) is now the largest global initiative
dedicated to supporting smallholder farmers make the investments needed to
protect cultivated lands from the impacts of climate change.”

The SYR will not only increase awareness of emerging threats
but hopefully influence practicable action in addressing such issues. The
models outlined in the report are the most detailed analyses that exist on the
status of climate change; and its authors express overwhelming consensus that something needs to be done now rather
than at a future date.